Weeping Tiger (Suea Rong Hai)

Weeping Tiger is one of my favourite things to order at a Thai restaurant, but I recently found that it is very simple to prepare at home. It is just steak, marinated (what it is marinaded in seems to vary from recipe to recipe), grilled, sliced and served with jaew, a hot and sour dipping sauce.

Why the name? I couldn't find a clear answer, there are various suggestions for the name's origins- one is that the sauce is so hot it made the tiger cry, another is that it used to be made with eat so tough even a tiger couldn't chew it- hence the tears. It certainly doesn't seem to be made with tough meat now- most recipes suggest sirloin or rib eye.

As I said, it is a very simple recipe. The one bit that might seem a bit odd is making the toasted ground rice to go in the dipping sauce, but it isn't hard- just toast some uncooked jasmine rice in a dry frying pan over a low heat until golden, then grind to a powder. It keeps, so you could make enough for several batches of jaew. Which is certainly now a bad idea, jaew is really good with prawns and chicken too.


The recipe I used came from Serious Eats. I didn't cook this over coals, as the recipe suggested, I used my trusty cast-iron griddle pan.

You can find the recipe on the link above, but the sauce and steak recipe are on separate pages, which makes it a bit tricky to read- so I have copied the two parts of the recipe here, for ease.

For the steak:

• 4 rib eye or New York strip steaks, about 1 1/2-inches thick (about 12 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon plain vegetable oil

For the sauce (jaew)

• 1/2 cup fresh juice from 6 to 10 limes
• 1/2 cup Thai fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons finely-chopped green onions
• Raw jasmine rice, to make 1 1/2 tablespoons toasted rice powder (recipe below) I used about half a cup raw rice, which made more than needed-but it keeps.
• 1 tablespoon dried red pepper powder- I ground up some dried birds eye chillies to make this.
• 2 plum tomatoes

Mix together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, and vegetable oil in a medium mixing bowl. Coat the steaks with the soy sauce mixture and let them marinate while you work on the dipping sauce.

To make the toasted rice powder, toast the raw rice in a dry frying pan over a low heat until the rice is golden. It's best to go slowly with this, so it cooks evenly and doesn't burn. Grind in a pestle and mortar to a powder.
Peel, deseed and finely chop the tomatoes, and put in a bowl. Mix with the rest of the jaew ingredient.

Grill the steaks, until desired doneness is reached. Remove from the heat and let rest for 5 minutes.

Cut the steaks into 1/4-inch slices and serve with the dipping sauce.

Green Mango Salad with Crispy Shallots

I am fortunate enough that I live within walking distance of a Thai grocers, and am able to buy ingredients that I couldn't get in the average supermarket.
From my last trip, I came back with a green mango. If you haven't tried them before, they are pretty sour but still have a distinctive mango flavour- I really like them in refreshing salads like these.

Green apples like Granny Smiths are often suggested as a substitute for green mango. Although the salad wouldn't be the same, I still think it would be an enjoyable dish. In addition, although the Thai (holy) basil is nice, I wouldn't let the lack of it stop you making it- just bump up the quantities of the other herbs.

We had this as a side dish to some very sticky and rich Vietnamese Caramel Pork- it was nice to have something so refreshing alongside. I think this salad would also be wonderful as a main, with some cooked and cooled glass noodles and prawns added.

Salad Ingredients
1 green mango, peeled and finely sliced
1/2 a cucumber, made into ribbons with a vegetable peeler, or finely sliced
1 red pepper, finely sliced
1 small-medium carrot, cut into matchsticks
Small bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
small bunch each of: mint, coriander and thai basil, leaves finely chopped

Dressing Ingredients
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
sugar or honey, to taste-start with 1 tsp
red chilli, finely chopped, to tast

Crispy Shallot Garnish
about 6 shallots- peeled and finely sliced
oil for deep frying

I suggest starting with the shallots- heat the oil in a small saucepan, about 2cm deep. Add the shallots, and cook until they are a dark golden brown and crisp. They will need stirring, as the shallot slices on the edges of the pan tend to brown quicker. Remove from the oil (I find a tea strainer works very well) and put on some kitchen roll to remove the excess oil.
In a large bowl, mix together the salad ingredients. Mix the dressing ingredients together, and combine with the salad.
Turn the salad out onto a large plate, and top with the crispy shallots.

Kao Phat Prik

I am slowly transporting all my cookery books from my parents' house to my flat- despite the lack of space for more books, I look forward to the day when the entirety of my collection is no longer based in London. I've just become reacquainted with Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook. I recently discovered this book was first published nearly 40 years ago- amazingly,it hasn't become at all dated.
I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by all the recipe books I have, and all the recipes I want to cook- and the lack of time to do it in. Recently, a dear friend and I came to the realisation that 3 meals a day doesn't feel enough to try everything. I'm trying to focus on a few recipes books, and really get into them, rather than feeling swamped by a huge collection of books. I've decided to start with The Complete Asian Cookbook- it's certainly got enough recipes to keep me going for a while.
I picked quite a simple starting point, with Kao Phat Prik, or chilli fried rice. I happened to have both leftover cooked rice, and some red curry paste in the fridge already, so I was partway there, ingredients-wise. I had made this red curry paste, but you could use any, homemade or bought.

Charmaine Solomon suggests garnishing with chilli flowers- I confess I left this part out, and just used the coriander leaves.

Ingredients
4 cups cold, cooked rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red chilli, sliced
I green chilli, sliced
1 tablespoons red curry paste (I upped this a little)
1 pork chop, finely diced or minced
500 g  peeled and deveined raw prawns, roughly chopped if large,
2 eggs, beaten and seasoned,
salt and pepper
3 tablespoon fish sauce
1 bunch chopped spring onions
handful chopped coriander leaves

Method

 Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion and red chilli until softened. Add the curry paste, and cook until the oil begins to separate.  Add the pork and stir-fry until cooked. Add the prawns to the pan. Once these are cooked through, add the rice, and stir so it is coated with the curry paste and the pork and prawns are well combined. Push the rice to the edge of the wok, leaving a space in the centre, and pour in the beaten eggs.. Stir until they start to set. Mix with the rice and toss over high heat until the eggs are cooked. Sprinkle with fish sauce, and stir in the spring onions.  Take off the heat and stir in the coriander leaves.

Jungle Curry with Pork, Sweet Potato and Snake Bean

Coconuts don't grow in the jungle, hence a jungle curry is made without coconut milk, unlike most other Thai curries. Water replaces the coconut milk, resulting in a far fierier, broth-like curry. I was hesitant about trying it, because really like using coconut milk as a curry ingredient. However, I was glad I made it, the flavours are really intense, and the meat and vegetables components seem to stand out more in a coconut-free base.

Wild boar would be better than pork in this recipe, so if you can get your hands on it, try it. You can use any meat, or make it vegetarian. Just remember to add the ingredients that need the longest cooking time first.

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil, such as groundnut
4-5 tbsps jungle curry paste
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
500ml water
300g pork tenderloin, cut into small chunks
snake beans, a good handful, cut into approx 3cm lengths
fish sauce
palm sugar
juice of one lime
handful Thai holy basil leaves

Method
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the oil. Add the curry paste, and fry it in the oil, until the paste begins to separate from the oil. Add the sweet potatoes, and stir to coat in the paste. Add the water, and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer until the potato is tender. Add the pork and the beans, and cook with the lid off for a few minutes until the pork is cooked through. Turn off the heat, and season with lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce to get a good balance of heat, sour, sweet and salt.
Stir in the holy basil, and serve over steamed jasmine rice 

Jungle Curry Paste

 The hottest of all Thai curries. Recipe for jungle curry to follow.


Ingredients
10-15 dried thai chillies
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tsp chopped lemongrass
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
flavourless oil, such as vegetable or sunflower


Method
Put all the ingredients in a food processor, except for the oil. Slowly add the oil to the mix while the processor is running, enough to bring the rest of the ingredients together to a smooth paste.

Panang Curry Paste

I've written enough curry paste recipes to be merit being lazy about the method for this one. You just whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor, except for the oil, which you add, a little at a time to the blending mix to make a paste. Make it as smooth as you possibly can.

Ingredients

10-15 dried thai chillies, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes

5 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 stalks lemongrass, tough outer stalks removed and chopped up.

8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 thumb galangal or ginger, peeled and chopped roughly

Handful coriander roots

4 kaffir lime leaves

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch ground white pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp shrimp paste

Flavourless oil, such as vegetable or sunflower oil- enough to make a paste

Beef Massaman Curry

Although this is a Thai recipe, it lacks some of the characteristic flavours that many of us associate with Thai cooking. For a start, it is quite a mild dish, unlike most other Thai curries. The curry paste also contains a few of dried spices, which are not often used in Thai cuisine, and the resulting flavour seems almost Indian.
Even though it lacks the fire of a green curry, I think it may be my favourite variety of Thai curry, its flavour is rich and complex and is comforting whilst being anything but boring. So far I have only made it with beef, but you can also make it with chicken. Personally I think beef might be the better choice, it stands up well to the flavours, but I have eaten with with chicken in restaurants and enjoyed it too. Using beef has the added advantage of needing a long, slow cooking, which in turn does wonders for the flavours of the curry. It's even better eaten a day or too after cooking, the spices seem to mellow and deepen in the fridge.

Ingredients
2 400g tins coconut milk
1/2 quantity massaman curry paste
600g boneless beef, cut into small pieces- the sort of cut you would use for a casserole
1 onion, peeled and finely slice
abot 500g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-2cm cubes
2 tbsp tamarind paste
palm sugar, to taste
fish sauce, to taste
Handful of cashews or peanuts-optional

Method
Scoop off the thick layer of the coconut milk in each tin and put in a heavy based saucepan. There should be about half left in each tin. Add the curry paste to the pan, and cook over a high heat for a few minutes. Stir in the beef and the rest of the coconut milk, and top up with water so the beef is submerged. Turn down the heat to the lowest setting and leave to simmer until almost completely tender.
About 20 minutes before you want to eat, add the potatoes and the sliced onion to the pan and cook until the potatoes are cooked through. Season with the tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce, and stir in the nuts just before eating.

 

Massaman Curry Paste

This is another Thai curry paste recipe I have added to my collection. Its good to know a few because there is a lot of overlap in the ingredients, so you won't just buy a big bag of lime leaves and leave them to sit in your freezer for a year before they get thrown out.
Massaman curry is milder than other Thai curries. I used the full 15 dried chillies and the curry I made with it was pretty fiery, so for a more authentic-tasting curry paste use less, unless of course you want the heat.
 Ingredients
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
5 cardomom pods
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
10-15 small red dried chillis
1 tsp salt
1 tsp shrimp past
4 shallots
4 cloves garlic2 sticks lemongrass
3 pods fresh turmeric (optional)
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 thumb ginger or galangal
groundnut or other flavourless oil


Method
Toast the peppercorns, cumin and coriander seeds and cardamom pods in a oil-free frying pan over a medium-high heat until they release their aroma. Remove from the pan immediately so they don't continue to cook, and crush to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Peel the garlic and turmeric and chop into large chunks. Peel and roughly chop the shallots. Remove the tough outer layers of the lemongrass, and slice into sections, peel and chop the ginger roughly. Put all the ingredients, except for the oil in a food processor and blend to a paste- you might have to to a lot of stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Pour in some oil in a steady stream to help the mix come together. Keep blending until you have as smooth a paste as possible. Store, covered, in the fridge and use within one month.

Thai Yellow Curry Paste

If I have red and green curry paste recipes here, I had to have a yellow one too. I've taken my time about making one, because I've only just got my chance to use fresh turmeric. When I was living in Leamington Spa, it would appear from time to time in KL Oriental, the Thai Supermarket, but I was always shopping for something else and it would have probably been wasted. There's a huge Oriental supermarket not too far away from where I'm living now, which sells anything you could possibly need for South East Asian cookery, so I now have a ready supplier of the rhizome. The fresh root is far removed from the garishly yellow dried turmeric. Instead of the bitter earth flavours usually associated with turmeric, it smells fresh and almost lavender-like.

After doing some online research, I found lots of recipes do just use dried turmeric, so if you can't get hold of the fresh stuff, maybe just replace it with a teaspoon of dried. My version is an amalgamation of various other yellow curry paste recipes, aiming for something as authentic and delicious as possible. I find that yellow curries are similar red, but milder, so I increased the spices to keep it interesting. The result is quite different from the fiery, fresher green curry.

If you have a decent food processor, this couldn't be simpler. If you have a less than brilliant one, you may need to be a bit more involved by turning off the machine from time to time to scrape down the sides. If you are having trouble, try blending half the ingredients. Once that has liquidised the other half will break down more easily. And if all you have is a pestle and mortar you'll need a few hours and a pair of strong arms.


Ingredients
4 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
6 lime leaves
4 stalks lemongrass, woody parts removed.
5cm galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
6 dried thai chillies
grated zest of 1 lime
2 tsp shrimp paste
small bunch coriander root
4 cloves garlic
50g fresh turmeric, peeled
1 tsp freshly ground coriander
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinammon
pinch ground cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
Vegetable or sunflower oil, for blending, a few tablespoons

Method
Blitz all the ingredients together except for the oil in a food processor. Pour enough oil down the funnel in a steady stream so that you get a smooth paste. Store, covered in the fridge. It should last about a month.

As well as using it to make curry, you can use the paste to make these thai pork burgers.

Thai Green Curry Paste

I'm now on conversation terms with the staff at the nearby Thai supermarket, which make going there even more enjoyable. My last trip I procured the ingredients for a green curry paste, using a recipe by the same man whose red curry paste I have previously written about.  They're both delicious, the red has warmth and heat from the dried chillies and spices, the green is fresher because of the raw birds-eye chillis and large amount of coriander.

12 green Birds Eye (whole)
4 cloves garlic
4 shallots
3-4 stalks lemongrass, tough outer layers removed
1 ½ inch piece of galangal (peeled)
4-6 fresh Kaffir lime leaves depending on size
1 tsp kapee (shrimp paste)
Grated zest of 1 lime
Good pinch of salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
½ bunch coriander, including roots if possible
Generous handful of Thai holy basil  or sweet basil leaves
Groundnut oil

Put all ingredients, except the oil, into your food processor and whiz. Pour in the oil as the mixture whizzes to moisten and allow the whole mixture to come down to a smooth, thick paste (there should be enough oil so that when you transfer the paste to a jar a thin layer of oil comes to the surface and just covers the mixture - this helps it to keep). The paste will keep for some weeks if stored in the fridge.

Thai Red Curry Paste

This recipe comes via a member of the BBC Food Message Board, in turn coming from their friend from Thailand.I made double the quantities, as my Magimix works better with large quantities, and it lasts a few weeks in the fridge and can be frozen in portions.

Ingredients
4-6 dried red chillies
2 small brown onions
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp freshly toasted ground cumin seeds
1 Tblsp freshly toasted ground coriander seeds
2 generous tbsp of chopped coriander, including root if available
1 tsp salt
4-6 fresh Kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp laos (dried galangal) powder
1 tsp serai (dried lemongrass) powder OR stalk Lemongrass, tough outer layers removed then roughly chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 tsp kapee (shrimp paste)
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
Coconut or groundnut oil

Method
Blend/process all the ingredients except for the oil. You'll almost certainly have to stop and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of your blender a few times before it is blitzed enough. Of course, you could always go down the truly authentic route and use a pestle and mortar, in which case you are a better person than me.  Pour in enough oil down the funnel to make it into a paste. If you a keeping in the fridge, a thin layer of oil on top will help it keep.